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Star Wars: Rogue One tops US box office

19 December 2016

As expected, the latest movie in the Star Wars franchise, Rogue One, soared to the top of the US box office at the weekend, scoring the second-best December opening ever with 155 million US dollars (around £124 million) in estimated ticket sales.

Watch one of the film's stars Diego Luna discuss the movie in our Movie News!

After the biggest Thursday night debut of the year, the intergalactic adventure blasted past industry expectations for a 130 million dollar (around £104 million) weekend, according Sunday’s studio estimates. “Rogue One” opened at Number 1 in all markets globally, though it has yet to bow in China and Korea.

“We’re in uncharted territory for December,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box office tracker comScore. “It’s going to be really hard for any movie to catch up to this movie. … This is only the second time a movie has opened this big in December.”

The record-setter was Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the space saga’s seventh instalment, which debuted to 247.9 million dollars (around £198 million) in the US and Canada last December.

Like The Force Awakens did in 2015, Rogue One could top the box office for the rest of the year, Dergarabedian said.

Set before the events of the original 1977 Star Wars, it stars Felicity Jones and Diego Luna as leaders of a rebel faction that steals plans for its imperial enemy’s master weapon, the Death Star.

Rogue One knocked the Number 1 movie for the past three weeks, Disney’s Moana, to a distant second with 11.6 million dollars, followed by Office Christmas Party with 8.4 million dollars.